Judge to rule on release of UC pepper-spray report

OAKLAND, Calif. 
A judge is set to hear arguments over the release of a highly anticipated report on the pepper-spraying of student demonstrators by campus police at the University of California, Davis.

The police action gained widespread attention after a viral online video showed an officer dousing a row of protesters with pepper spray as they sat passively.

The hearing scheduled for Friday morning in Alameda County Superior Court comes after Judge Evelio Grillo indicated in a tentative ruling Thursday his intent to allow the release of the report.

A UC Davis task force investigating the Nov. 18 crackdown on Occupy protesters was scheduled to publish its findings last week. But it delayed its release after learning the police officers' union planned to ask a judge to temporarily block its release, which Grillo did last week.

The union wants the university to remove officers' names and personnel information. UC attorneys argue the state law protecting officers' information doesn't apply.